Loose Change: 3/18/09

By

Mary Pilon

Mar 18, 2009 9:41 am ET

Everett

Larry King and Bob Barker, sans Plinko game board.

Personal Finance:
-The IRS has issued some guidance for those were vicitims of Bernard Madoff or other Ponzi schemes. [WSJ]
-SmartMoney has a big ol’ tax guide that you can view for free. For 36 pages, it’s insanely readable and helpful. [SmartMoney]
-We love hearing financial myths. We love even more hearing them busted. [Kiplinger]
-A sobering tale that serves as a costly reminder that consumers have to document their credit-card payment trails with vigilance and caution. [CreditMatters]

Investing:
-The banking rally is rubbish! The banking rally is legit! The banking rally is impossible to pinpoint! [Barron’s]
-We can’t stress this enough, but here are a few more reasons why trying to call the market bottom is a hobby that’s best avoided. [StockTradingToGo]
-Most of us have been reading about high-profile dividend slashings in recent weeks, but there are some companies out there still attracting the gaze of those with their eyes on the dividend prize. [DividendGrowthInvestors]

Other Lint:
-Out of the 6,700 languages in the world identified by UNESCO, the UN’s cultural body, 2,500 have been deemed at risk. Around a quarter of the world’s population speaks three languages – Mandarin, English and Spanish. [Economist]
-More on the story that never seems to die: further absurdities of the Madoff family finances. [DailyBeast]
-This further supports my thesis that TV show “The Price is Right” is among the best training for consumers. The Journal of Consumer Research reports that shoppers pay a disproportionate amount of attention to the leftmost digits in prices. Those leftmost digits impact whether a product is perceived to be affordable or not. [Scordo]